Food For Thought
by aWildSheepChase
Summary: Nick and Judy have been given a gruesome case involving slaughterhouses. As the two tackle the case, they find themselves more involved then they should be, putting a strain on their friendship and their lives.
1. Chapter 1

Several doors down from her own was Nick Wilde's room; her partner in justice. Her- dare she say it?- best friend. The rabbit was just rising out of bed to do her routine check-up; ears straight? Teeth brushed? ZPD badge shiny? Check, check, check.

Judy stood tall in the mirror and smiled. "Time to wake up Nick." Letting out a soft sigh of contentment, Judy crossed the room and opened the door. She hadn't even taken a step when somebeast ran by at top speed, carrying something under his arms. "Excuse me! Excuse me!" called out the animal as he zipped down the hallway and towards the exit staircase.

The cop within Jusy stirred excitedly; Go after him. He's being suspecious. Judy thumped her feet aprehensively against the floor, shooting a yearning look towards her fox-partner's door. It was no use. She would just have to investigate without him. Straightening her cap, Judy rushed down the hall. "Move aside, police!" she called, trying her best to sound polite as she rammed her shoulder into the exit door. Down the staircase she ran, cheating as she hopped down each flight. Getting closer, closer... The animal just reached the bottom floor; the rabbit discovered his species to be a goat. The object under his arm squirmed within a robin's egg-blue blanet. Did he just kidnap a child? Judy leaned over the railing and shouted: "Stop where you are! Police!"

But the goat ignored her, didn't even glance up or quicken their pace. The goat opened the door and stepped out into the streets.

"Oh, cud..." growled Judy. She hurried down the remaining flights and kicked open the door at the bottom, stepping into the sunshine. Big and small, tall and short; the world became a maze of legs. Where did that goat go?

Suddenly, her ears picked up the sound of crying. Judy turned towards the source; between an elephant and a pack of wolves waiting to cross the street stood the goat with a small kitten in his arms. The kitten was crying.

The rabbit ran over, hoping that the traffic light would stay red just a little bit longer. Long enough to investigate the scene. She grabbed at her badge, reflecting the light, making it known.

"Police!" she shouted. "Police!" Animals respectfully moved aside until only the goat and the kitten remained. "Wh-what do we have..." Judy panted, scolding herself mentally. The rabbit swallowed air hungrily. "What do we have here, sir?" she asked at last.

"I'm sorry?" the goat's voice was faint, almost turned mute by the wailing of the unhappy kitten. The blue blanket fell crumpled in the space between them.

"Who is this?" she pointed at the crying kitten. "Is there a reason why he's upset?"

The goat looked at the kitten between his hooves, then back at Jusy. "He's just cranky because he misses his mommy."

Judy's jaw clamped shut angrily. I knew it... What a psychopath. "All right, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come down to the office with me."

"What did I do wrong?" he whispered.

"Hand me the child, please." Judy opened her arms. The kitten fell into Judy and clug to her fur, his sobbing subsiding.

"Wh-what are you doing with Wally?" asked the goat nervously.

"He's coming with us."

"I was going to drop him off with his mother, I..."

"Wait, what?" Judy blinked, her certainty churning into doubt. She swallowed hard.

"His mother works at the daycare, so she has enough to deal with... But Wally cant stand it when Mommy is away..."

"Your wife, she's..."

"Yes. She's a cat, officer." the goat said with a gentle nod. Here, he began digging through his pocket. He withdrew a wallet, within it being a picture of a cat and the goat with a little one in the mother's arms.

"I'm...I'm so sorry..." Judy hung her head in defeat.

"Oh, all is well..." the goat shrugged, putting his wallet away. "Wally seems to have taken a liking to you."

"Oh, yes..." Judy forced out a short laugh, cuddling the happy kitten who purred against her vest.

"Do we still have to go down to the office?" asked the goat.

"No!" Judy shook her head, "No, of course not." She handed the kitten back to his Daddy. "I'm sorry for the mix-up." She bent down and picked up the blanket he had dropped and offered it to him as well.

"You aren't the first," the father replied with a bitter smile, taking and tucking the blanket under his arm. "Next time, try not to be so judgemental." With that, the goat walked briskly down the street, carrying the kitten with him.

Dejected, all Judy could do next was go back to the apartments and make sure Nick was up and ready to go. Part of her was thanful he hadn't been awakened and had witnessed her major mistake. But as she turned around to head back she spotted the fox approaching her with a smile.

"It sure is a nice morning, eh Carrots? One could even forget the duties of an officer on a day like this..." Nicholas said humbly.

Judy turned on him. "It's not my duty to wake you up! I just do it because-"

"Because you care about me?"

Judy blushed. "Yes..." And about my reputation, she thought.

"Aww..." Nick leaned close to Judy, his long, slender face inches from hers. Frantically, Judy pushed him away, glancing around at the crowd. "Not here, Nick!" she scolded him in a whisper.  
Nick's ears turned. "Oh. All right then..." He scratched the back of his neck with a paw, looking like a wounded animal.  
Judy stared at the fox. What was it she was so afraid of? Did she not believe species could mix together? Was it really such an impossible thing? If they became a couple, then they would be harshly judged... Surely there were plenty of female foxes and male rabbit just waiting around the corner... So why settle with a loveless devotion?

The rabbit took a step back and brushed off the cat hairs from her vest. "We should head on to headquarters." she said.

"You're the boss." Nick replied thinly, following her at a distance. During the walk to HQ, Judy felt as if she were being stalked.

After the morning huddle, Bogo dropped a heavy case-file on the duo's desk. The rabbit and fox blinked up at him sheepishly. "This is a case I'm assigning you two for one reason, and one reason only: Because I know I can trust you two with this information. This file's been touched off and on through years, but never solved."

"What kind of case is it?" Judy put a paw on the file and flipped the page. The first thing she saw was a picture of a warehouse.

"That building-" Bogo broke off in mid-sentence and quickly closed the door. The ox cleared his throat before continuing. "That building was marked for demolition ten years ago, but was instead bought by the meat industry. At first we thought it was like any other industry; synthetic meats, tofu, that sort of thing. But recent packaging has hinted at something a lot more sinister."

"So what was found?" asked Nick. "Traces of bone? Blood?"

"In one of the meat-free packages of Hotdogs," Bogo spoke slowly. "...We found a piglet's hoof."

"Oh my gosh..." Judy whispered.

"Well wasn't there a brand recall?" asked Nick.

"It's not so simple. This warehouse is using the same marketing as the animal-friendly ones. They're getting mixed up on the shelves; no one can tell between the real and the fake-"

"Unless they bite into something that actually bleeds." says Nick.

"Exactly." Bogo nods.

"But why would anyone want to do something so...horrible...?" Judy asked softly.

"Probably the same crack-heads who thought it was a good idea to infect the predators with Night Howler's poison." Bogo shrugged.

"No, that cant be right." Judy spoke up. "Bellweather wanted to get rid of predators so the prey would come into higher status. But here, we have a machine thats killing prey."

"So you think it's the predators?" asked Nick, looking at Judy.

Judy stared back, afraid to speak.

"Well, whoever it is, I trust this infromation will stay secret. If word gets out, I'll know who to point my hoof at. Do I make myself clear?"

The rabbit and the fox nodded. Shortly after, they left the office and sat on the front steps, their stomach hurting and the case heavy on their minds. Nick looked sideways at Judy, his ears rotating towards her. "You can say it, you know. I wont get angry."

"Huh?" Judy looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"You and I both know predators are behind this mess. But look, I'm fine, see? I'm not taking it personally."

Judy felt touched with guilt. Of course; he could never be her enemy. She scooted closer to the fox, and leaned against his side. "Oh, Nick..." she sighed.

"Something bugging you, Jude?" he asked, petting the soft fluff between her ears.

Judy smiled, closing her eyes. "No. Everything is all right now..."

"Technically, that's not true though." Nick sat up straighter and flipped at the case file. "...still cant figure out why no one has investigated before us. Unless, of course, the ones who did investigate were turned into chicken pot pies."

Judy sat up, frowning. Nick grinned at her, all bright white teeth. She couldn't help but laugh. Judy hopped to her feet and stretched her arms high over her head, casting a sideways glance at her partner.

Nick stood up, securing the file under his arm. "Someone's an eager bunny."

Judy shrugged, hiding her smile. "If you mean I'm eager to solve this case, then yes, I am."

Half an hour later, the duo pulled up the police car outside a large grey building.

"We might as well scout the area while we wait on that search warrant." Judy said as the two of them strolled towards a large warehouse, the parking lot of which was vacant aside from the police car. The pipes on the roof were also silent: no black smoke rose up into the sky. "Wow. This place looks empty." Judy sniffed the air.

"Empty for now, maybe..." Nick muttered. "I don't like the smell of this place. It's too bleach-y."

"Of course it smells like bleach, you clever fox; the warehouse is a food-producing factory, of course they'd keep it clean. Wait. Where are you going?"

"I want to get an inside look, if you know what I mean..."

"But- Nick!-" Judy followed the fox to the side of the building. "...we have to wait until we're given clearance."

"Since we do I ever play by the rules?" Nick asked with a long smile.

Judy's ear twitched once, then sighed, taking off her ZPD cap and stuffing it into her pocket. "All right, fine; a quick look around and that's it! I mean it."

"They won't even know we were there." Nick promised smoothly.  



	2. Chapter 2

Judy clambered onto the window sill and slipped through into the warehouse, silent. Nick followed obediently, a notebook clutched between his teeth. Once the pair were reunited, they collectively felt the sudden urge to vomit.

Around them were rows of cages, a smell so rancid and vile filling the warehouse like fog; animals wiggled and squirmed below. Nicholas looked up boldly and gasped, tapping Judy on the shoulder. She tilted her head upwards.

On the ceiling were hooks, long and curved hooks, each with the full-body fur of a rabbit. Some appeared to twitch; perhaps it was just the wind?

But of course, there was no cool breeze to be felt. All was hot and humid and stinking of rotting flesh and cold, coagulating blood. Judy stepped closer to Nick, her breathing unsteady.

"Easy does it..." Nick spoke calmly to her. "Let's just get the pictures we need and go. The place seems empty right now. We won't stay any longer than we have to."

Judy nodded mutely and took out her phone. Her paws were shaking as she flashed a photo of the massacred rabbits above them.

More pictures were taken while Nicholas scribbled down notes; they walked down the aisles of cages, daring to peek.

Within the cages laid sheep, pigs, horses, and dozens of other animals, separated by species. Most of them laid shivering with enormous eyes; others paced mad-circles in their enclosures, watching every movement the two ZPD officers made. And the noise: The terrible noise of a hundred dying voices, moaning; it set Judy and Nick's teeth on-edge.

The more they looked, the more they wished they hadn't: Animals hung on racks like graphic posters along the wall; meaty skeletons of their former selves. Below this was a long table, empty, but stained red from the thousands of slaughters preformed there.

Nick and Judy crept closer. On the surface of the table was a fine powder. Upon tasting it, Nick announced that it was bone, which had been ground up for reasons unknown to them.

"I don't like this: I think we've seen enough. Let's get out of here." Nick turned to face Judy, but she was squatted in front of a cage of piglets. They crawled and tumbled on all fours, snorting grossly in their own filth.

"It's almost as if... They gone savage..." Whispered Judy.

"Not savage. They've just lost their sanity." Nick added. "And who wouldn't in a place like this...?"

Judy stood up. She did not look at him. "I'm going to free them."

"What?" Nick shook his head. "No. We can't do that. Let's go report to Mr. Boho and let the squat team take care of the rest." The fox moved closer, laying a paw on her arm. "We've done our part."

"No!" Judy shrugged him off and stomped a foot indignantly. The moans and groans sounded doubly all around them.

"Judy, come on... I know you want to help them, but-"

"You just think I can't do it." Judy frowned. "Well, Nick Wilde, watch what this dumb bunny can do!" She turned and pulled at the pins hooked in the gate's door, removing the door all together. At first, the pigs just stared at her. Then, one by one, they ran out, shoving Judy aside with their flat, hard faces. Nick reached out a paw to grab Judy and pull her to safety beside him, but she ignored his paw, breathlessly leaning against another cage to avoid the piglet stampede. She was smiling.

"Judy!" Nicholas called over the ruckus. "Judy!" But she wasn't listening. In horror, the fox watched his partner reach a cage of cows and begin pulling out the pins from the gate.

The piglets thundered around the warehouse, squealing, biting one another, beating themselves bloody against walls and fences. One piglet tripped over a hook on the floor and became trampled. Something was wrong with these animals. Something was very wrong.

"Judy, stop!" Nick ran over to Judy, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away from the cows. But it was too late; the gate fell down and the cows surged forward.

"Why are you trying to stop me?" The rabbit yelled over the noise. "Why aren't you helping me free our comrades?"

"Because you're not freeing them; look! These animals have probably never been outside these walls. They don't know what they're doing. If we release them, nothing good will come of it!"

"And what makes you the expert?" Judy put her hands on her hips, eying the fox. "How do you know all this?"

"Just look at them!" Nick cried.

The rabbit turned and looked on at the way the cows and the pigs stepped and barreled into one another senselessly. She watched as an oversized cow broke down a section of a fence which enclosed a dozen ostriches. The birds scattered, each running for its own life; massive eggs laid scattered and busted on the floor. A pig stopped running and began drinking from one of the spoiled eggs. The cows continued running on a loop, screaming with madness.

Slowly, Judy felt guilty; the more her eyes witnessed, the more she realized how right Nick was. "Something's wrong..." Whispered Judy.

"I know Carrots, I know." The fox put his arms around Judy and backed up until the two of them were out of harm's way.

"What do we do now?" Her voice quivered.

"We do what we came here to do. We document what we've found here."

Judy nodded, taking out her phone to video the chaos around them. Meanwhile, Nick looked around for the window they came in through. Right beside a pair of fighting dogs in a pen, there was the window, open just enough to let a ray of sunlight through. It would be tough making it there, but they could do it.

The fox turned. "Carrots, are you ready to go-" Nicholas fell silent, Judy having vanished. "Judy?" He squinted through the musky cows and bloodied swine, searching, searching... There!

Against a wall with several large monkeys stood Judy, swinging her carrot-pen as if it were a dagger.

"Hang on Judy, I'm coming!" Nick ran across the slick red floor, ducking under cows, leaping out of the way of charging pigs. An ostrich got its neck caught on a low-hanging hook and started flapping wildly, feathers flying; Nicholas avoided the bird's powerful wings and placed himself beside Judy at last. The monkeys became easily distracted by the commotion and fled the scene. The warehouse became like a madhouse.

Judy clung to Nick's arm. "I'm so sorry, Nick...!" She cried.

"Shhh... We'll be all right."

"Are...Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm make sure of it." Nick glanced at her.

The animals around them battered and bruised one another senselessly. More and more cages were broken open; more and more animals ran rampage throughout the warehouse.

No. Warehouse was not the right word anymore. This place... Was a slaughterhouse. 


	3. Chapter 3

When the grizzly bear workers returned from their lunch break and opened the side-door to the slaughterhouse, the animals therein came to a stand-still; petrified eyes started at the bears with an all-knowing intelligence: These bears were the ones who brought them here, who stripped them of their identity. Who made them nothing but meat.

But fear overpowered the animals sense of anger; one herd after the other trotted back into their pens. Tired, bloodied. The bear carried whips which they slashed and lashed over the backs of the animals, who cried out in so many voices.

Alarmed, Judy and Nick his themselves underneath a table, shivering and clinging to one another. Would they be able to escape? As they watched a brown bear whip a raging bull into submission, the chances of their own escape seemed impossible.

There were ten bears in all, and each one had an oddly savage appearance, which seemed worse because they were standing up, while all the other animals crawled on all fours.

Nick laid on his belly under the table, his eyes large, his teeth bared. Beside him, Judy, in the midst of trepidation, closed her eyes. "Birds don't just fly; they fall down and get up," she sang softly under her breath.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Nick whispered back anxiously.

"It means," Judy explained in a hushed voice, "we shouldn't expect things to go the way they should all the time; bad things happen to everyone. But it shouldn't stop us from trying. Come on!"

Nick's jaw dropped as the rabbit started running out of their hiding place. Her destination? The window they had came in through. Gritting his teeth, Nick followed swiftly in her shadow, casting feverish glances towards the busy grizzly bears.

Judy reached the window and immediately started leaping, small paws struggling to grasp the window sill. She tried again and again, but just couldn't quite reach it. All at once she found herself being lifted up by Nick. She looked down at him.

"Go- just go!" Nick told her quickly.

Judy leaped through the window, landing and rolling several feet on the asphalt on the other side. "Ouch..." She stood up slowly and looked around the parking lot. At once she spotted the police car and her heart sunk: The bears knew that they were here.

"Nick...!" Judy ran to the window, only to find it shut and locked tightly. "No!" She cried, banging her two fists against the wall. "Nicholas!" Her voice caught in her throat as she started to cry, at the same time mentally chiding herself for her breakdown: "Get a hold of yourself. You have a job to do."

Taking a deep breath, the rabbit calmed down. They wouldn't dare hurt Nick; they were police officers! They would be guilty and sent straight to jail. Or... On second thought... The bears could all be charged with the death penalty... Judy shuddered, then took out her phone to dial Bogo for backup.

"Don't worry Nick," she breathed into the phone as it rang. "I'm going to get you out of there."

The rabbit walked over to the side door and opened it, peeking in, hoping to see Nick. Instead, she saw the last of the pigs behind kicked and whipped back into their tiny cage. The sight was nauseating. Judy stepped back outside as the phone clicked and a voice asked "what's your emergency?"

Judy took a big gulp of fresh air and started to speak. "Judy Hopps here, I-"

Her paw holding the phone was engulfed by the massive paw of a grizzly; the bear crunched her paw into a fist tightly until both of them could feel the phone shatter. Judy tried to pull free, shock dominating pain. "Let me go!" She cried, pulling and twisting herself.

The bear released her; Judy fell against the parking lot, scraping her face badly. Wincing, the rabbit stood back up and faced the bear. "What you're doing is wrong, and you're going to pay for your crimes in court! I have proof!-..."

Judy held her breath. She no longer had proof; her phone was useless. All she had was Nick... No. Even he was taken from her. She had nothing. Suddenly, Judy found herself unable to form words. She was frightened.

The bear advanced on her, sensing her weakness, and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her into the warehouse and closed and locked the door.

At once the smell of blood, vomit, death- it all swarm up Judy's nostrils, making her dizzy. "Nick..." She whispered, screaming his name in her head.

Finally, she spotted him in a battery cage; a small square cage meant for chickens. He ducked uncomfortably in the small enclosure, a cut on his face open and bleeding. His eyes met hers, but he didn't speak.

Say my name, Judy thought. I've come back for you. Tell me you need me.

But the fox said nothing, even as she was stuffed into a cage beside him. At first, she held this against him and kept quiet, but his moist brown eyes staring at her made her give in.

"Are you all right?" She whispered, touching his paws between the grates.

Nicholas wrapped his fingers over hers, then opened his mouth; his tongue was shorter than usual... How odd...

No! Judy gasped. It was severed; the bears had cut off his tongue so he couldn't speak!

"Oh my cuss!" Judy felt tears of sympathy form in her eyes. "Oh, Nick..."

Nicholas shook his head quickly, then began making gestures with his hands. He pointed out through the cage at the exit door, then up at the ceiling where the meaty hooks dangled above.

Judy looked up and noticed that the hooks lead towards the door before they circled back and unhooked themselves over a large metal chute.

One of the bears walked by and pulled a lever; work was back in session. The hooks above began to carousel above, swinging towards the door, then depositing the meat into the chutes.

It was risky, but it seemed like a good plan. How, though, were they going to get out of the cages?

The fox made a sound with his mouth; Judy looked as he pointed to what seemed to be the largest bear of the group. He carried the keys in his left paw, swinging them leisurely.

Nicholas caught the rabbit's eye, then winked. Working up as much spit as he could, the fox began foaming at the mouth and started kicking and thrashing in his cage like a wild animal.

This got the bear's immediate attention. Judy joined in, biting her own lip to further the act; she foamed and bucked and squealed, cutting her delicate paws on the sharp metal flooring of the cage.

Startled, three bears, including the key holder, hurried over to investigate. One of them took out a gun, a long, deadly gun made for hunting God-knows-who.

But the largest bear smacked him over the head. "No, you jackass! Don't you see their fur? That's high quality. We're not going to waste it." The bear who spoke then unlocked Nick's cage and put him into one of the bear's arms; Nick squirmed and hissed and tried to bite, but the bear cupped the fox by the throat tightly, ceasing his movements.

The largest bear then unlocked Judy. As she was lifted from the cage she met Nicholas' eyes, then kicked out of the bear's arm and used the bear's head as a stepping stone; she leaped up and grabbed onto a hunk of meat as it wheeled towards the chute.

The bears began yelling at one another, pushing and shoving as they worked the controls of the machine. It was now that Nick was able to escape; he wiggled out of the bear's arms then sprinted towards the exit door. He wrenched the door open just as the meat detached itself over the chute; Judy sprang from the hook and landed in the fox's waiting arms. Together they fled the scene, rushing towards their police car.

Buckling up for safety, Judy took the wheel and they sped away from the warehouse as fast as they could, side-by-side, their hands clasped together. 


	4. Chapter 4

Judy reached up and turned on the siren, letting all the cars around her know that she was in a hurry. Somebeasts honked their horns indignantly, others pulled off to the side of the road, letting her police cruiser pass.

"We'll be back at HQ soon, Nick." Judy told her fox-partner beside her. Of course he knew how close they were; Judy just couldn't help but fill in the silence left by Nicholas' vandalized mouth. She missed him.

Nick patted her arm and pointed skyward.

"What is it?" Judy leaned forward and saw a large helicopter was following close behind them. "What the cuss-"

Judy had to slam on her brakes to avoid colliding with a bus, lurching herself and Nick forward. They rotated their bodies, twisting the seatbelts as they craned their heads up.

It was only a news chopper; it flew past them, oblivious to the officers' perils.

Judy burst out: "We need that chopper, Nick; the public needs to know-" she turned and faced her fox partner, remembering that he had been mutilated. "...but first we need to get you to the hospital."

All at once, Judy's face began to sting. Keeping one paw on the steering wheel, Judy lifted a paw and cringed, fingers feeling the bloody cut across her cheek. Her wound was festering... If she didn't receive treatment soon, she could get a bad infection.

Without a word, Judy put her foot down on the gas pedal and sped on.

They arrived at the hospital twenty minutes after their encounter with the slaughterhouse; by this time, Nick had become feverish from his wounds.

As soon as Judy parked the car she shot out of her seatbelt and ran to the passenger side of the vehicle. Nick laid back in his seat and moaned, his eyes large and blood-shot.

"Oh, gingersnap!" Judy turned and looked towards the automatic doors of the emergency entrance. Right outside, by an ash tray, a lone wheelchair sat perched on the lawn. "Stay here, Nick!" The rabbit ran over to the wheelchair and wheeled it back to the police car. Speaking soft words of guidance, Judy eased Nick into the chair and started pushing him up the road.

"We've made it, Nicholas. Everything is going to be okay." Judy whispered to her partner.

"Uuugh...nnh..." Nick babbled.

"I know," Judy lowered her head and planted a kiss on the fox's scalp. "I love you too."

"Urnnn..!" Nick pressed something into her paw.

It was her carrot pen; he had been using it to write with during the investigation.

"Thank you," Judy said, attaching the pen to her vest.

The moment the two law officers stepped into the hospital they were swarmed with nurses of every shape and size. Judy was escorted to the waiting area, having no severe wounds, while Nick was wheeled away behind double doors and out of sight.

"Wait! Nick!" Cried Judy. She turned and gazed with moist eyes at the elephant nurse who held onto her arm. "Where are they taking him?"

But the elephant stayed quiet, only giving her arm a reassure pat.

"Judy Hopps?" Called a hippo from the receptionist desk.

Judy rotated her ears. "How do you know my name...?"

The elephant nurse let Judy go, and the rabbit went to the desk obediently.

"Everybeast knows about you, Miss Hopps." The hippo slid a clipboard towards her. "Fill this form out for me, honey. Complete both sides, and sign your name here at the bottom, okay?"

Judy nodded mutely and sat down in the waiting room, taking out her orange carrot pen.

Nearby, tumbling in the floor were a pair of wolves. They were young; a boy and a girl wearing green overalls and pink ones, respectfully. Their mother sat in a wheelchair, tap-tapping away at her iPad, her leg propped up in a cast.

The mother, it seemed to Judy, was bored. Suddenly, the boy wolf bit his sister, who started howling at once.

Their mother lifted her eyes, growling. "Hush up!" She barked.

Judy felt stricken. Why was the mother so cross? Was it the atmosphere that made these people so unhappy, or their condition? Their ailments?

The rabbit looked around the room. Nearly all the chairs in the waiting room was filled with animals coughing into handkerchiefs or their sleeves; the kind of dry, wet cough that made you want to clear your throat. Llamas, coyotes, kangaroos- it didn't matter what species the animal was; they all wore the same haggard look of sickness in their face.

"Mommy...?"

Judy turned her head and watched a black panther child tug at his mother's dress.

"Mommy, I'm huuuuuungry...I'm hungry Mama...Mommy...?"

Judy searched her pockets, finding four quarters and a handful of pennies. She sifted through the change and walked over to the panther family. She extended her paw, showing the boy the four shiny quarters. "Here you go. There's a vending machine over by the restroom." Judy pointed.

"Thank you, miss." The mother took the coins then slid the change into her son's paw. "Go on, get yourself a snack."

Judy smiled and watched as the boy trotted over to the machine.

"Oh, miss, your poor face!" The mother panther exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

"It's... Just part of the job, ma'm." Judy shrugged, trying to smile.

"Well quit." The panther said sternly. "I mean it."

Judy hesitated. For some reason, she was inclined to be honest to the mother. Her concern was not for herself, but for her partner. "I... I'll think about it..."

"Good."

By this time, the panther's son returned, waving a chocolate candy bar in the air. "Look mommy! Look!"

"Here, let me open it for you." The mother took away the candy and opened it, tearing off the wrapper with practiced ease.

When Judy returned to her seat, she wore a frown on her face, like so many others in the hospital. It was the first time since coming to Zootopia that she questioned her own happiness. With a sigh, she picked back up her clipboard and resumed filling out the form.

As she wrote, her thumb slid and bumped into the recording device. At once, screaming could be heard from the tiny speakers; the screaming paused, then words were hurriedly spoken into the device:

"Nick Wilde reporting; I have been kidnapped by grizzly bears in a slaughterhouse. And the rumors are true: they are butchering real animals!"

Everyone's eyes were upon Judy now; jaws dropped open, pencils fell out of useless paws. The hippo at the receptionist desk was the first to speak; she picked up a phone and began to dial a three-digit number as she spoke:

"Miss Hopps, come see me in my office, please."

The small grey rabbit followed the large hippo into the office, which had nothing but a bench lined with thin paper and a computer chair.

"Judy have a seat, dear, and give me a minute to get off the phone." The hippo told Judy kindly. "Did you finish filling out your form?"

"Yes, I-"

The hippo put a finger to her lips. "Hello?" She spoke to the phone. "Yes, hello Mister Bogo how are you? Mmhmm... Great... I'm here with Judy Hopps, sir, and she-" the hippo waved and gestured for Judy to pass off the clipboard; the rabbit obeyed, then stood up from her seat.

"May I go use the bathroom?" Judy asked shyly.

"Go ahead, honey." The hippo sunk down into the computer chair, which groaned under her weight.

Judy slipped out of the office and ran over to the first nurse she spotted. "Excuse me, can you tell me what room Nicholas Wilde is in?" She asked.

The animal shook his head. "He's still in surgery."

"Still?" Judy bit her lip.

"The doctors are doing everything they can," the doctor added softly. "I'm sure he-"

"Okay, thanks." Judy turned and ran down the hallway, hunting down someone else to ask.

But right outside the front entrance of the hospital, something caught her eye. A young lion cub was pushing his father in a wheelchair, but was struggling. The father himself wore bandages on his arms, making it impossible for him to assist. Kicking herself mentally for her compassionate nature, Judy ran outside to help.

"Are you trying to get inside?" She asked the lions.

The lions gave her a very blank look, staring at her with almost a hateful expression.

"Um... Are you okay?" Judy asked.

All at once, a pair of thick arms wrapped around her and forced her into the back of a truck, the doors of which slammed and locked shut immediately.

"What the...?" Judy gasped, running against the closed doors. "No! No!" She cried. "Let me out of here!"

All around her, Judy felt the momentum of the truck as it gained speed and turned sharp corners. She was frightened; the stress of the entire day began to tear her to pieces. What hurt her the most was that she would not be at Nick's side when he woke up from surgery.

"Oh, Nick..." Judy slumped to her knees and cried. 


	5. Chapter 5

When Nicholas Wilde awoke, it had been several hours since he had last seen Judy Hopps. But to the fox, in his lucid stupor, he figured it had only been minutes. As he looked around the hospital room, he found his vision to be slightly blurry; his mouth felt like cotton. The drugs from surgery were starting to wear off.

Beside his own bed was a second bed, upon which laid a koala bear wearing a gauze around his left arm. A female koala stood next to the bed, holding the other koala's paw.

Nicholas worked his mouth, testing his new tongue. "Judy..." He turned his head and looked around for her with a new-found energy. "Carrots?" He called out. "Judy?"

There were nurses walking by the doorway, but none stopped or even glanced his way. The nurses were too used to having patients babble nonsense when coming off of the medication.

But Nick refused to be ignored. Gripping the guard rails of the bed, the fox lifted himself up until he was sitting up straight. His thin gown made him feel exposed; he hesitated on leaping off the bed as he intended to do. Instead, the fox carefully slid off the bed, tightened his gown, and strolled out of the room.

No one cared to stop him. The nurses and doctors had their own routines and tasks that needed to be completed.

A female fox pushing a cart full of food trays paused outside of Nick's and the koala's room. She looked down at a piece of paper, then at Nick. "Sir, you don't feel like eating today?" She asked.

The warm smell of beans, spinach, and corn bread filled Nick's nostrils greedily. The fox was hungry, he realized. But he had his own duties to attend to as well.

Nick gave the fox a smile. "Sorry lady, not this time. This fox is leaving the hen house."

"Has the doctor been in to see you since the operation?" Asked the fox. "He's given you the okay?"

"Uhhh... Yeah. Sure." Nick flashed her a grin.

She gestured to his hospital gown; No words needed to be said.

"Oh, right, see... I'm heading to the bathroom to change clothes. My wife dropped off a bag, it's with the receptionist."

Finally, the fox female gave in; she shrugged her shoulders and picked up a tray of food. "Have a good night, sir." She said cheerlessly, then proceeded to deliver the evening meals.

While it was true that Nicholas needed a new wardrobe, he was unsure how to obtain one. He worked his tongue around in his mouth. It felt sore, but was in no danger of falling off.

"Think, think..." He growled. "First, I've got to find Judy..." His bare feet padded against the tile floor as he approached the hippo receptionist. But someone else was there too. An ox... Was it...?

It was! It was Chief Bogo! Nick hurried over. "Chief!" He said. The events of the day spilled back into his memory like paint over a canvas; he felt tarnished, violated. "Chief Bogo!" Nick skidded to a stop beside the massive ox. "Sir, Judy and I have got to tell you something. It's about the warehouse case."

"Now is not the time or place, Wilde." Growled the ox. He squinted his eyes. "Did you not just have an operation? Why are you out of bed?"

"Sir," Nick said carefully. "It's very important that you listen to us."

"What is this "us" business?" Snapped the ox. "Look, Wilde. I get it; you've had a rough time with the case. We can talk about it later. Now go back to your room."

"I will not!" Nicholas growled. "Look, something is wrong. Something... Something's not right."

Bogo stared at the fox with an unpleasant expression on his face.

The fox spoke up. "The pen I gave to Judy, it's-"

"About that..." The Chief grunted, rolling his eyes towards the receptionist.

The hippo held up the pen. "It seems to double as a recording device, but..." She pressed down the button: silence. "Nothing was recorded."

"What?" Breathed the fox. "There was evidence! Real proof!"

Chief Bogo sighed, shaking his head.

All at once, Nick could not distinguish who was on his side. He felt cornered.

"...where is Judy?" Nick asked at length. "Have you spoken to her?"

"No. I haven't seen her..." Bogo's voice thinned out.

"She left a long time ago, honey." The hippo spoke up.

"How long?" Nick said slowly.

"Hmm..." The hippo rubbed her chin thoughtfully, clearly in no hurry. "It's been at least three hours."

"Three hours..?"

"Chin up, Wilbur!" Joked the hippo. "You're lucky your operation went by so smoothly."

Nick shook his head quickly. "I don't care about that." The fox turned and looked at Bogo. "Look, Chief. If neither of you know where Judy is, then she might actually be in real danger."

"Cool your jets, Wilde." Snorted Bogo. "I'm certain if she needed help she would contact us."

"But what if she can't? What if she-"

"I'm starting to wish you never had that tongue operation... Perhaps the case was just too much for a rookie to handle." Bogo rubbed his eyes, sighing. "... I'll sign your release papers: just go home for the day. That's an order. And for heavens sake, put some pants on!"

Don't let them know that they get to. The fox balled up his paws into fists; he licked his lips with his new tongue, preparing to verbally lash out. But he couldn't speak. His pride had been wounded.

The Chief leaned back over the desk and resumed his conversation with the hippo about popular vacation spots. In other words, they completely shunned Nick.

Practically snarling, Nick padded back to his room, passing by nurses, guests, and patients. In one paw, he clutched Judy's pen; he had swiped it without either animal noticing.

A giraffe saw the express on Nicholas' face and rolled her eyes. "Typical fox..."

"Hey! You don't know what I've been through." Nick barked.

"And you don't know what I've been through!" Retorted the giraffe. "My husband is sick, we had to move out of the apartment last week because of a gas leak, and don't get me started on the hospital bills!"

Groaning, Nick grabbed at his ears, pulling them down to block out the animal's voice; he quickened his pace, shutting the door once he made it back to the room.

The koala's visitor had left. He was sleeping soundlessly in bed with a smile on his face. Anxious, the fox searched the room until he found his own clothes neatly folded on a shelf. He put these on quickly then poked his head out from the doorway.

The giraffe was gone. Good.

Nicholas strolled out of the room, doing his best to look like a visitor and not a patient. He knew running would arouse suspicion, no matter what excuse he could come up with: He might be asked- forced- to go back to his room.

Luckily, the fox was able to walk straight out the door and into the crowded parking lot. "Okay, okay... Think..." Nick looked around the lot. He did not see any police cruisers. He stood there wondering if he would resort to hijacking, when a bus pulled up beside him.

"Need a lift?" Asked an alligator.

Nick have the bus driver a bow. "Thank you, compadre." He hopped up into the bus and took a seat on the back row. When asked, the fox gave the alligator directions to the apartment complex.

Nick stared out the window, seeming a transparent reflection of himself in the glass. He sighed, clicking the pen repeatedly in his paw. "Why was there nothing recorded...?" He muttered. "And why wasn't Judy there when I came out of surgery? Did something happen to her...?"

Already the sun was starting to go down.

The fox suddenly had an idea. He stood up in the bus and said, "Driver, stop here, please! I need to get off."

The alligator opened the doors as Nick squeezed by the passengers. "Thanks pal." Nick patted the driver on the arm, then jumped out, at once digging out his cell phone.

As he dialed Judy's phone number, he started walking down the sidewalk. His destination? The slaughterhouse.

"Pick up pick up pick up..." Nick begged, cradling the phone tightly against his ear. "Pleeeeeease..."

Outside of the warehouse, in several pieces, Judy's phone was forced to send Nick's call straight to voicemail.

"Hi there! It's Judy. You probably already knew that... Leave me a message and I'll call you back!"

Nicholas licked his lips, then spoke. "Judy, it's Nick... I... I just have a bad feeling. I hope you're okay... My surgery went great. As you can tell..." The fox stopped walking, just holding the phone close. "...Hang in there, all right Carrots? We'll see each other soon." 


	6. Chapter 6

Foxes, rabbits, lions, lambs; the traits in these animals which categorized them as predator or prey were no longer recognized: they were all reduced to hunks of bloody meat, dangling by hooks or struggling to breathe in a pool of their own blood, throats gaped open like a second mouth.

The first hour Judy spent in the battery cage felt like a lifetime. Having been stripped of her clothes, she felt humiliated and exposed, the cage so small that she was forced to duck.

She watched in quiet terror as rabbits so similar to her own kind were torn from cages and had their throats deeply cut by a slow churning blade. The grizzlies worked fast with their paws; claws sharpened and used like knives as fur was removed and meat was sectioned off onto conveyer belts. Blood drenched the floors; there was no escaping it's sharp, sweet-metal scent.

When the second hour approached, so did the largest bear in the group. With a pair of keys, the bear opened Judy's cage and stuck has hand in, as if to grab her by her ears.

Judy instinctively drew back on all fours, bearing her teeth. "Get away!" She shouted, her voice trembling on the edge of hysteric.

The grizzly chuckled, withdrew his paw, and locked the cage. "You'll crack soon enough..." The bear reached up and pulled a wiggling rabbit off of a massive fish-hook. Though properly skinned and bleeding, it was obvious at once that the rabbit was still alive, chest heaving with every breath, it's head intact like some sick joke. The rabbit's blue eyes locked on to Judy's face.

There really isn't a difference, thought Judy, her nose twitching. They're just like me. But...

Judy hopped closer, squinting at the rabbit dangling in the bear's grasp. "Why isn't the rabbit screaming...?" Judy murmured.

All at once the grizzly swung the rabbit hard against Judy's cage, upsetting the rabbits caged on both sides beside her. The bear then dropped the rabbit to the floor and ground his heel into the skull of the animal until it burst like a juicy tomato.

Judy's heart was sent into a frenzy; she found herself bouncing and twisting nervously in her cage like all the other trapped beasts beside, above, and below her. This is crazy, she thought wildly. This whole place... I have to escape. All of us. Together. But how...?

Judy pressed against her cage and spoke to the four rabbits crammed in the cage to get right. "Listen. Can you understand me?"

The rabbits did nothing but shiver against each other, their eyes as big as the moon.

Judy scooted over to her left and spoke loudly, "Hello! My name is Judy, what's yours?"

The rabbits on her left mimicked the ones on the right. They appeared in shock, and in no right mind to carry on a conversation.

"Please, wave your paw if you can understand me." Judy lifted a paw and smiled. She said, "I can do it, see? Can you wave your paw?"

A shadow fell over Judy's cage, silencing her. It was the largest bear again; he held in his paw the keys to her freedom. "I didn't think I'd have to do this." He said, then shrugged as if he didn't have a choice. "But you're making too much noise." He then unlocked Judy's cage, reaching and snatching her up by her tail.

"No! NOO!" Judy shrieked, the knife getting closer, closer...

By the second hour, Judy's had lost her tongue, and her sanity.

As time passed, several rabbits were added into the cage with her; two brown, one white. They nipped and kicked at each other senselessly. Judy tried to avoid these mute, berserk rabbits, but they kept targeting her, biting her ears and making her bleed.

At first Judy tried to protest vocally; "Stop it!" "Go away!" "You're hurting me!" But her words came out in spurts of blood and nonsense; soon she gave this up and started kicking the rabbits back whenever they stood too close.

All around her, cows and sheep and guinea pigs and chickens- slice, dice, crunch. Packaged in fancy wrappings, mixed with vegetables, and shipped to the public for consumption. No common animal even suspected a thing.

"The public needs to know!" Judy closed her eyes, remembering how selfish she had been when she was in car with Nick. Now the fox's life was in the paws of the doctors. She had no idea what had become of him. Or what would become of her.

One of the rabbits wedged itself against her. Judy lifted her ears, eyes open, enlarged with fear. At first Judy started to show her teeth as a threat, but all the rabbit dos was seek comfort and warmth in a place that offered neither.

Around the warehouse, corpses swung and dropped and dripped from every corner. The animals kept in tightly knit pens feasted on the remains of their kin, snorting and thrashing, blind to the difference of right and wrong.

Music was in the sound of crying voices; from lambs torn from their mothers too soon to the raccoons breaking their necks trying to squeeze out of the bars that confine them. Every voice competed to be heard above the slaughter.  
Nick... Judy sighed, feeling the burnt stub of her tongue graze against her teeth. Shivering, she cuddled close to the other rabbits, hoping for some kind of release from this prison.

By the third hour, even the grizzly bears couldn't tell the difference between Judy and the rest of the bunnies. They were all just pieces of meat, trembling, pathetic, $1.79 a pound.  



	7. Chapter 7

When Nick arrived at the warehouse it was well-past dark and his paws were aching from all the ground he had covered.

Breathless, the fox stepped past the chain link fence which surrounded the building and crept towards the side door.

He had no idea what to do once he got inside; he only knew what needed to be done: save Judy.

Briefly, Nicholas shot a look up at the starry sky. He took in a deep, clean lungful of air, as if he feared it may be his last. He paused, letting the cool breeze whip around the tiny orange hairs all over his body.

At last, he wrapped his paw around the door knob and turned it, slipping inside the slaughterhouse- into the heady scent of death.

The pens were full of motion, especially the cows, where several brown bears monitored the machine and hoses plugged to the bovine's stretched and torn udders; they were making milk. So busy were the bears that they didn't see Nicholas Wilde run by, sniffing wildly, trying to catch Judy's scent.

He ducked beside a pen of shaven sheep, their exposed skin cut from razors and barbed wire. Seeing the fox, they all started to baa and ram their powerful hind legs against the walls.

"Shhhh!" Nick told them frantically.

"Baaaa~!" They cried in one collective voice.

The fox moved away to the next pen, looking over the wall to the animals therein.

Turkeys blinked up at him, standing in a tight cluster, unable to spread out. Their bodies were littered with mites, their wings shredded, their bodies unnaturally massive. They hushed the longer Nick stared at them, like children in anticipation for permission. Nicholas felt a pang of sorrow for the birds, knowing they were lost causes.

The rabbit cages along the wall became noisy all at once; a rabbit had gone into a mad frenzy and started attaching the ones it shared a cage with; squeaks and shrill cries went unheard by the grizzly bears, who all rotated from "nursing" the mother cows to butchering the calves to sell as choice-cut veal.

Nicholas scurried over to the wall of rabbits, peering into each one. "Judy? Judy? Are you in here?" He stepped sideways along the slick red floor, sniffing loudly, green eyes darting. "Judy?"

Rabbit after shivering rabbit glared at him, sightless; their dreams of freedom never known, having been born in the warehouse and forced to watch day after day the massacre of their own species. They had been desensitized.

As Nick moved from cage to cage, he doubted that Judy was among them.

Maybe Judy is back at the apartments after all. Maybe her phone died and she forgot to recharge it. What then?

The fox sighed, stopping his search at what must have been the thirtieth cage. He pressed his forehead against the metal bars, his ears turned back. "What am I doing here...?" He muttered.

A grey rabbit perked its head up, sniffing, sniffing... She hopped over, limping on her bloodied hind leg. She opened her mouth, attempted to speak. "Nnng?"

Blinking quickly, Nick looked up straight into the eyes of Judy; at that moment, his heart broke. "You poor, poor kid..." He whispered, gripping the cage. Oh, how he wanted to rip the cage off the wall! Testing his strength against it, he found removing the cage would be impossible; he would have to unlock it.

"Keys, keys..." Nick turned and looked around until he spotted the largest bear in the group. He recognized him as the one who burnt off his own tongue, and now Judy's... "No doubt about it..." He muttered, tightening his paws into fists. The fox doubled over and got on all fours, slinking past the other bears who were busily slitting open calves' throats and bleeding them over a chute.

The largest bear stood by a computer, drinking a frappé chino, the keys to the kingdom hanging on his belt loop.

Nicholas snuck behind him, his chest dripping a fresh red from being so close to the floor. He reached out both paws; one paw gripped the keys to keep them from chiming together while his other paw unhooked them from the belt. Easy does it... There!

Nick stuffed the keys into his mouth and bolted back over to the rabbit cages.

"Judy?!" He whispered quickly.

The grey rabbit reappeared, nose twitching.

"I'm going to get you out of there." Nicholas tried several keys in the lock, but none were working. "Crab apples!" He swore.

"Hey! It's that fox again!" Shouted a bear, pointing an enormous claw in their direction.

Nick shoved another key in the lock, giving it a hard turn: nothing.

Several bears walked over, growling, carrying knives. The largest bear closed his lips over the straw of his drink and slurped noisily, watching with wicked eyes as the drama unfolded.

At last! The cage was unlocked; Nicholas tore open the door and spread out his arms at the same moment Judy leapt into his paws. Holding the rabbit close, Nick ran towards the nearest window and dove out, rolling hard against the pavement.

Shaking his head quickly, the fox stood up, cradling Judy close to his heart. He then ran off of the property, past the chain fence surrounding the slaughterhouse, and deeper into the night.

An hour passed before Nick was able to stop running and rest. He brought Judy to his apartment room, where it was quiet, clean, safe. He tucked her up into his bed, never mind her being nude. Nicholas himself curled up on the floor. He felt exhausted. So much has happened in a day's time...

When he had placed Judy in the bed, she had felt very warm to the touch, as if she had a fever- or worse, an infection in either her leg or her tongue.

There was little that could be done. A hospital visit, sure. But what if the bears looked for them there?

No. For now, this was the safest place Judy could be; right next to Nicholas. They would simply go to the hospital in the morning.

The fox opened his mouth wide and yawned. "Goodnight, Carrots..." The fox closed his eyes.

Judy stirred on the bed.

Nick opened his eyes and found her face inches from his own.

The rabbit planted a kiss on the fox's lips; a soft, almost sad kiss, as if she were trying to say this kiss would be the first and last they share.

Nicholas closed his eyes tightly, hoping that she was wrong.


	8. Chapter 8

The morning revealed itself in soft white beams across the floor, creating stripes along the fox's back.

Judy sat up in bed, as she had been for the past half hour, ears upright, tense. She was waiting for her fantasy to crumble on itself and fly away like dust; sleeping in a bed next to Nicholas Wilde? Impossible!

Of course, she must still be in a cage; she's hallucinating. That's all. Flashes of red liquified behind her eyes. She could not shake her nightmares of that terrible place. Just imagine being born there; growing up in a place like that...!

Nicholas stood up slowly from the floor, groaning as his limbs rotated in their sockets. "Good morning, Judy. You're really glowing this morning."

Indeed, the light had settled on the rabbit's face in gentle rays, defining her soft features. Her nose twitched, purple eyes blinking slowly at the fox.

It was now that the fox began to doubt once more. Is she afraid of me? He wondered. What all did they do to her while she was locked up?

"Sooo..." Nicholas clapped his paws together. "I was thinking, before we head to the hospital, we could stop for a bite to eat." He raised his eyebrows at her. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty hungry... So...um..."

Judy climbed off of the bed. It wasn't until her paws touched the cold floor that she realized she was naked. "Eeek!" The rabbit bounced back into bed and covered herself up with the blanket.

Nicholas snapped his fingers. "Breakfast in bed. Got it. You just sit tight." The fox strolled out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Once Nick had left, Judy slid off the bed and walked over to the window. The sun was shining high above the clouds.

How late did the two of them sleep in?

Judy shook her head and sighed. Her tongue was very sore. She checked her leg, finding it bandaged with a tightly tied pillow case. She knew that they needed to go to the hospital, but what about their mission? Judy sat down on the side of the bed and thought.

Nicholas and Judy were both victims of mutilation. The proof of this was Nicholas's hospital records and Judy's wounded leg and missing tongue.

What else? Evidence, evidence...

Judy no longer had her phone. Her carrot pen was missing. On the morbidly bright side, both Judy and Nick were witnesses to the slaughterhouse: A search warrant wouldn't be needed, only witness statements.

Surely after hearing their tales of horror Bogo would gather up a team and invade the warehouse?

Judy shivered, grabbing up the blankets and pulling them close around herself.

When they were first offered the case file, Bogo strictly told them to keep quiet about any discoveries they make. So he must have known; if the rumors were true, the public would go crazy...

Three soft knocks on the door proceeded Nick as he came into the room. In one paw he carried a to-go box, while in the other paw he held a mini carton of orange juice.

"I hope you like French toast." He said with a smile. He set the bag down and shook the orange juice befits opening it and offering it to Judy. Keeping the blankets tight against herself, the rabbit sat up and drank the juice hurriedly.

"Hey slow down, speedy. I don't want you to choke." Nick reached down and took the to-go box out of the bag and set it down on the bed. "Do you feel like eating?" He asked.

Judy drained the juice dry and sat back against the bed frame, breathing deeply. She blinked at the fox, then smiled.

Nicholas smiled back, then took up a plastic knife and fork and started cutting up the French toast into bite-sized pieces. As he did so, Judy let the blanket fall from her body and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. She reached out a paw and rested it on his.

Nick stopped cutting up the food and looked at her, green eyes moist.

Judy leaned forward and nuzzled the fox under his chin, tears forming in her eyes.

The fox took a breath; he was going to say something sarcastic, but immediately changed his mind. He put his arms around Judy and held her tightly.

The rabbit put her arms around him and wept silently, expressing her gratitude, and her love.

Once breakfast was over, Nicholas picked the lock on Judy's room and picked out some clothes for her to wear. She dressed in Nicholas's room while Nick stood in the hallway, pacing.

Using his cell phone, the fox called his buddy Finnick and asked to borrow his truck. The desert fox declined at first, until Nick explained that he needed the truck to get to the hospital.

Within ten minutes, the noisy old truck pulled up outside the apartment complex.

"Thanks buddy, I owe you one." Nicholas said with a grin.

"Hmph. You owe me a lot more than that."

Nick opened the passenger side of the car and assisted Judy inside. "Thanks again." Nick said as the little fox hopped down and he climbed in.

"Don't mention it." The fennec shrugged.

Nick started the truck and turned to Judy, who buckled up and stared right back. "Our first stop will be the hospital." He said. "Unless you think we should go to HQ first?"

Judy shook her head, then pointed to her leg. It was hurting tremendously, but she kept quiet about this, not wanting to further worry her friend.

Nick nodded. "All right." He pulled off the side of the road and into traffic, heading towards the hospital. But as he headed there, Nick had a growing feeling that he should turn the car around.

Danger. His instincts cried. But he wasn't listening to his instincts. He was listening to his heart.


	9. Chapter 9

Only five minutes into the drive, Judy pawed desperately at Nick's arm until he stopped the car. The rabbit kicked open the door and leaned out, sucking in oxygen like a fish before she doubled over and puked.

Nicholas leaned over in his seat and held her ears away from her face. "You're all right..." He told her soothingly. "Just breathe."

Judy retched for several minutes before she was able to sit back in her seat.

"I'm hungry again," Judy tried to joke, but it came out as: "Uhh un nhheh nh."

Nicholas was quiet for a moment as he tried to decipher what the rabbit had said. He cranked the car back in gear and was driving for quite some time before he managed to speak.

"The doctors are going to put you to sleep during the surgery." He glanced at her. "It really isn't so bad. You have nothing to fear but fear itself, right?"

The fox cringed inwardly at his own words. The fear he felt continued to grow the closer they got to the hospital. He could not explain why.

Regardless, once Nicholas arrived at the hospital he was in a hurry to get Judy inside. Nick drove around the parking lot twice looking for an empty space to park in, but finally settled on parking in handicap.

He ran around to the passenger seat and picked her up, carrying her through the automatic doors and straight over to the receptionist.

Upon seeing them, the hippo tapped a tabby cat on the shoulder and slipped out of view behind a door.

"Hello, how may I help you?" Asked the tabby, pushing up his green tinted glasses with one paw.

"This is Judy Hopps, she needs to be seen immediately." Nicholas said. He felt as if he were being watched and could not shake off this feeling. "She also threw up on the way over here."

"I'll have a doctor come by and check on her," replied the tabby. "But in the meantime, I need you to fill out this form and take a seat."

Nicholas took the clipboard and sat down, placing Judy in the seat beside him.

Shivering, Judy leaned against Nick, seeking warmth.

Nicholas touched her forehead. It was very warm. She must be feverish if she's shivering, Nicholas thought. He stood up and went up to the receptionist desk. "Excuse me, is there any way we can get her in to see a doctor sooner?"

"We attend to the patients in the order they arrive, sir." Said the cat. "Please have a seat."

The fox went and sat back down beside Judy. He picked up the form and started filling it in.

Judy flinched and sat up really straight, poking Nick in his ribs. When the fox looked up, Judy pointed towards the front desk.

In a coffee mug was a collection of pens. One of them being shaped like a carrot.

Nicholas stood up and went back over to the desk.

"Yes?" The tabby asked unhappily.

"I'm just swapping out pens," Nicholas said. "The one I got isn't writing." Liar. Nicholas grabbed the carrot pen and went and sat down.

Judy snatched it and clicked the playback button: silence.

"Hnnh?!" Judy looked quickly at Nicholas, who only nodded.

"It was like that before, too. I know I recorded something when the grizzly bears captured me..." Green eyes shifted to stare at the door behind the desk. Where did that hippo run off to...?

Judy covered her face with her paws, shaking her head.

"Hey, hey... Don't be upset..." Nick leaned over and wrapped an arm around her. "We're going to get through this. I promise." He glanced down at the clipboard, then disengaged his arm, standing up. "I'm going to give this back to the receptionist, and I'll be right back."

Judy nodded, staring at the floor. Once Nick was gone, the rabbit closed her eyes. The sickness was returning to her stomach due to her nerves. "Hhhn..." She whispered.

By the front desk, Nicholas Wilde was talking to a beaver, who happened to be a doctor. The doctor had been passing through to check on another patient when Nick stopped him.

"Please, you have to see my friend. It's urgent."

The beaver nodded and went with Nick to check on Judy. "Miss? My name is Doctor Julius. Can you open your mouth for me?"

Judy opened her eyes, blinking tiredly. She then tilted her head back and opened her mouth.

"Good gravy..." Dr. Julius shook his head. "Very well; come with me." He gestured with a paw and Nick helped Judy to stand. He kept an arm around her shoulders to steady her walking.

The beaver stopped at an office. "In here please. Just Judy; you're going to have to wait in the waiting room."

Nick nodded obediently, then turned to the rabbit. "Judy, this doctor is going to take good care of you. He's going to fix you up. And I'll be right there when he's finished."

Nicholas planted a kiss on Judy's forehead, then stood still as the doctor closed the door on his face. He sighed, then headed back to the waiting area.

"Excuse me," a familiar voice called.

Nick turned towards the source. It was the hippo receptionist lady, waving a paw. "Can you come with me for a minute?"

Nick followed the hippo into the room, looking around quickly for witnesses. "Yes?" He asked.

"Honey, you were here yesterday morning, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"Why'd you leave? You weren't given clearance."

"There was, uh... A family emergency."

"Mm. I see..." The hippo nodded without sympathy.

"Have you contacted Chief Bogo?" Nicholas dared to ask.

"Actually, I have... I let him know that both of his rookie members have trespassed on private property without a police search warrant and have been harassing the staff at the hospital." The hippo have Nick a long smile. "He can't wait to take your badges away."

"Why are you in league with those- those bears?!" Nick cried, forgetting his manners. "Don't you realize what they're doing is wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong with eating meat, sugar." The hippo replied. "I'm sure you've done it too, and haven't even noticed it. Besides," the hippo stepped towards him. "All those animals you saw? They were born like that. Generation after generation; they don't know anything different. You can't save them. They don't even have soul to save."

"That's where you're wrong." Nicholas growled. "Every animal has a life."

"If you say so, honey muffin." The hippo shrugged.

Nicholas scanned the female's scrubs, searching for a name tag. He found it, pinned on the left side of her shirt: "Ginger"

He would have to remember that.

"You're free to go now," the hippo said cheerfully. "Just remember what I've said, and what you can't say. Then everything will work out just fine."

Nicholas left the room in a daze. What trauma happened to Ginger that makes her believe killing animals is okay? Killing and eating her own kind? The fox located the bathroom and went inside, selecting a stall. He pulled out the carrot pen from his pocket and pressed the play-back button:

"...all those animals you saw? They were born like that. Generation after generation; they don't know anything different. You can't save them. They don't even have a soul to save..."

Nicholas felt his mouth turn into a bitter smile. He finally had evidence. He would prove to Bogo who the real bad guys were; Ginger was not an ally, but an enemy.

"I must be patient," Nick muttered to himself. "Wait for Judy... Then we can go to HQ together and sort this mess out."

The fox stepped out of the bathroom and sat back down in the waiting room. All he could do now is wait.


	10. The End

"All right Judy," a paw squeezed her leg gently, bringing the rabbit back into reality for a moment. She was so tired; she felt as if she were in a snow globe; everything was washy and warm. "I need you to count to ten, Judy."

Count to ten? That was easy. Judy took in a breath and started. "One, two, three...four..." What came next again...? "Five..." She mumbled, closing her eyes. "Sssix..."

Judy fell through the bed and down into a dark pit, faster and faster she fell. Claws reached out and swiped at her through the darkness. A voice called her name, over and over.

Suddenly, the darkness faded away. In its place was an ocean. Children were playing there; puppies, kittens, joeys, calves. They ran through the warm sand and made a game of chasing the waves.

Nicholas stood by a large horse. They were talking about her. Judy tried to step forward, but found herself flying instead. She zipped past Nick and crashed into the water.

Now she was drowning. "Help!" She screamed. But her mouth was full of blood. "Nick!" She shouted, paws splashing the water frantically. "Nicholas!"

Something grabbed her arm and pulled her under; the sun spread itself out across the sky; the water thickened into blood. Judy screamed on last time- then woke up.

"Well good morning, sleepy head." Nicholas grinned at the rabbit as she slowly sat up in bed.

"N...Nick...?" Judy turned her head and stared at the fox.

"Hi Carrots." He seemed unable to stop smiling.

"How long...?" She asked in a mumble.

"How long were you under?" Nick looked over at the beaver, who stood by a rolling computer desk, tapping in numbers.

"Three and a half hours," Dr. Julius answered. "And your friend has has never left your side, Miss Judy."

"Oh..." Judy yawned, the drugs clearly still in her system.

Nicholas stood up and shook the beaver's paw. "Thank you again for over seeing her operation."

"I'm glad everything worked out." The beaver nodded, then left the room, saying something about lunch being served very soon.

"Once we're given the okay to leave, I was thinking we should go to Chief Bogo right away, and tell him what we've found and what's been done to us." Nicholas said. "I'll do all the talking, if you'd like. Your tongue is probably sore."

Judy nodded slowly. She reached out a paw; Nicholas came over at once and knelt beside her bed, taking the paw that was offered to him. They stayed like this for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts, listening to the other's calm breathing.

"I have reason to believe that a hippo named Ginger has connections with the slaughterhouse." Nick said at last.

"I knew there was something rotten about her..." Said Judy, giving Nick's paw a gentle squeeze.

"We're going to put an end to those monsters." Nick said firmly. "Nothing on earth can justify their actions; murder is murder, not matter what species."

"Nick..."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for being here..."

"Aww..." Nicholas stood up and leaned over her bed, ducking to kiss the rabbit on her forehead. But Judy lifted her head and kissed him on the lips.

He kissed her back, closing his wet eyes. "You poor emotional thing..." Nick muttered, sniffing.

Judy grinned, then wiped the tears from her own eyes.

Over the next hour, the lunch lady (a badger pushing around a dolly full of lunch trays) came in and offered the two officers pinto beans, rice, spinach, and corn bread, all of which they declined with frozen smiles.

"Don't worry, Carrots," the fox said once the lunch lady walked out. "Once we leave here, I'll pick you up a Happy Meal from McDolphin's."

Judy shook her head, giggling. "I'm not hungry."

"You should be." Nick frowned slightly.

Judy shrugged her shoulders, smiling. "When do you think we'll be able to get out of here?"

"Oh, it won't be much longer, honey bun!"

Nick and Judy turned their heads abruptly, staring at the large hippo that entered the room.

"What are you doing here?" Growled Nick.

"It's my job as a nurse to check on the well being of the patients, of course!" Ginger stepped further into the room, her eyes darting around the room. "Hmmm, not hungry, dears? The food here always so good!"

"Look, we're fine. We've had a long day and we want you out." Nicholas said with suppressed anger.

She waved a paw dismissively. "I see that you two are perking up nicely. I'll be sure to let Bogo know he can stop by and visit." Ginger grinned and left the room, leaving the door wide open.

Growling, Nicholas went over and closed the door.

"What was that all about?" Asked Judy.

"That hippo has been talking to Bogo..." He pressed his head against the closed door, unable to meet Judy's eyes. "She's been lying to him... He wants to strip us of our rank, and kick us off the force."

"Nick."

He didn't move away from the door.

The weight on the bed shifted as the rabbit hopped off and put her arms around the fox's waist. "It'll be all right..." She whispered.

The fox turned and held the bunny close, letting out a sigh. "I'm so sorry that you had to suffer through that terrible place... I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner..."

"Shhh..." Judy reached up and stroked the fluff within the fox's ears. "You did everything you could to save me. I know you did."

"But that Ginger- what are we going to do about her?"

"When Bogo comes, we'll just have to tell him our side of the story." The rabbit said.

"Oh! That's right," Nick dug out the pen from his pocket. "I caught the hippo talking about the slaughterhouse. That's something no one is supposed to know about, right?" He grinned.

Judy nodded, smiling grimly.

"We can do it. We're going to clear our names and get the heck out of here. And then-"

"And then we go on vacation." Judy spoke up.

"Vacation? To where?"

"The beach." Replied Judy. "Somewhere warm and sunny."

Nicholas smiled. "Sure. That actually sounds nice."

They rabbit and fox talked quietly for quite some time, sitting side by side on the hospital bed. They felt comfortable in each other's company, having shared similar traumas.

A knock sounded on their door, followed by the door being opened by a large ox; Bogo had finally arrived, followed by Ginger.

Nicholas stood up at once. "Sir, if you don't mind, I'd rather it be just the three of us."

"What?" Snapped Bogo, casting at look at Ginger, who blinked innocently. "Oh. All right then."

Taking her cue, the hippo left the room without a word. Bogo closed the door behind her.

"This is the fifth time Miss Ginger has had to call me about the two of you." Bogo rubbed his face tiredly. "...firstly... I had given you strict orders about keeping the case a secret! Yet I have Ginger talking in hysterics about the graphic details of the case!"

Judy quickly spoke up. "Sir, did you just say Ginger was graphic in her description?"

"Yes! She described pigs getting their throats cut open, rabbits being skinned alive, species of birds getting their wings broken-"

"Which means...?" Nicholas couldn't help but smile.

Bogo caught his breath and held it. Pieces slid together and started to make more sense. The ox cleared his throat. "Which means the rumors are true." He said quietly.

"And, sir, we were both victims of that same brutality." Judy added. "We went to investigate-"

"Trespassing is a crime which-" Bogo snapped.

"-and were captured and had our tongues forcibly removed so we couldn't talk." Judy finished.

"Which brings us to now." Nicholas said, waving a paw towards Judy. Judy opened her mouth, revealing stitches.

"But. But..." The ox struggled to determine what was true and what was false. According to the hippo, they were criminals. But according to them, they were the victims.

Nicholas dug out the carrot pen. "Chief Bogo, sir, there's something you need to listen to."

Within several minutes, Bogo had Ginger arrested and had formed a team of thirty able-bodied animals to raid the warehouse. All of the evidence was literally spilled out in front of them. Picture were taken, videos were made viral; the public demanded answers, and it was Bogo who got on television and made sense of their questions.

Bogo also paid Judy and Nick's hospital bills and both were given a month off, with pay.

Once Judy and Nick left the hospital, the first place they went to was McDolphin's, where they both ordered milkshakes.

It wasn't until they were halfway finished eating their shakes that they remembered milkshakes were made from the milk of a hundred tortured cows.

They then threw their desserts into the trash.


	11. Epilogue (Pill Pocket)

Epilogue

Judy rinsed her paws off underneath the warm water spewing from the faucet, having to stand on her tippy toes in order to reach, despite the stool.

Behind her, Nicholas chopped up the vegetables for their salad; bell peppers, carrots, bok choy, spinach, lettuce, while Judy started washing strawberries and blueberries, mechanically setting the berries on a towel to dry.

It was day three at their house on the beach, paid for by Chief Bogo after their latest solved case caused Judy and Nick to seek help from a therapist. And what was the therapists recommendation?

Take a vacation! Which was advice the rabbit and fox followed without complaint.

However, along with it having been day three on the beach, it has also been three days since Nicholas Wilde took his medicine.

Judy peered over Nick's shoulder while he worked the knife over the silently screaming vegetables. "Do you think that's enough carrots?" Asked the rabbit.

Nicholas paused, scooping up the ingredients and tossing them in the salad bowl. "I think so." He replied, picking out a leaf of lettuce and biting into it, chewing slowly.

"After we're done with lunch, I was thinking we could go collect seashells on the beach."

Nick nodded. "Okay." He swallowed hard, keeping his back to her.

The water stopped running. Judy moved and stood beside him, kissing the fox on the cheek.

Nicholas attempted a smile.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm just hungry." Nike turned away.

"Then lets eat!" Judy grabbed the bowl of fruit and sat down at the couch in front of the fireplace. Above the fireplace was a television, but this was turned off.

Nicholas joined her, carting the salad bowl, his teeth set on edge; he had to make an conscious effort to unclench his teeth.

The fox sat down beside the rabbit and they began eating straight from the bowls with a pair of metal forks.

Nicholas could feel the all-too familiar heaviness behind his eyes, the shallowness of his face feeling more prominent. "Judy?" He said.

"Yes?" Judy popped a strawberry in her mouth.

"Do I ...look all right?" He asked.

Judy squinted at him. "You don't look sunburnt, if that's what you mean."

How he felt on the inside had nothing to do with his outside appearance. The fox tried to take comfort in that. He stabbed at the salad, his ears drawn back against his head.

What the medicine was meant to do was to calm "your inner beast"; a supplement meant strictly for predator species, Nick made sure that Judy didn't know about it. But for him to be skipping so many doses...

"I'm really having a nice time here." Judy said, leaning against her friend.

Nicholas instantly picked up the sound of her heartbeat. The blood within her- he could smell it, almost taste it...

"Ew. Nick, did you just drool on me?" Judy scooted away from the fox, wiping a paw across her face.

"Sorry!" Nicholas sat back against the couch, stiff.

Judy sat quietly, picking at the salad bowl, then the fruit. The silence was so powerful that her ears began to ring.

"So!" Judy sat up. "What do you say to a game of tag out on the beach? Maybe we'll see that group of otters we saw yesterday. We could ask them to join in."

Nick couldn't contain himself; at the mention of "tag" all he could think of is sinking his teeth into Judy's throat. Baring his teeth, Nick sprang across the couch and onto the rabbit, biting and clawing at her fragile, blood-filled body...! Open; bleed! BLEED!

Not really, though; Nick was using his imagination. Imagination which caused his breath to cut short and his chest to hurt.

"I don't think tag is such a good idea..." Nick managed to say.

"Oh. Okay. Then what would you like to do, foxy?" Judy asked with a patient smile.

Nick rubbed the back of his neck. "What if we played pictionary?"

"I love that game!" The rabbit hopped of the couch and ran from the room. "I'll go find some paper, you go find some pens!"

"We could write with our own blood." Nicholas heard himself say. He gasped, putting his paws over his trouble-making mouth.

Judy poked her head around a wall. "What was that?"

Nicholas shook his head. "Never mind." Shaking his head caused him to feel dizzy. His mouth felt oddly dry.

While Judy hunted for paper, Nike left the room and went into the kitchen, hunting for something to quench his savage thirst. In the fridge was bottled water, coconut water, soymilk, and organic coffee bean energy drinks.

Nick grabbed an energy drink, snapped it open, and drained it in several long gulps.

It was going to be a long day.

...

dear readers, I have turned this epilogue into a full-fledged story. It's called Pill Pocket. Check it out on my profile!

And thank you everyone for such positive reviews! (:


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